I just had a birthday, which always makes me reflective.

It was a great one, for sure—an incredibly warm day, enjoying the river from my deck with loved ones—everything was perfect. That’s the kind of day we all wish we could have more of, so here’s the wake-up call: we can. We need to make it a priority to squeeze more joy out of the lemons in our lives—to consciously buy more sweet oranges, to extend the metaphor. When’s the last time you took off on a weekday and went fishing or played golf or stayed home with your kids? We may talk a good line about work/life balance, but do we live it ourselves?

I’m blessed with three grandsons, and this is me with my twin grandkids Cruz and Hudson—am I a lucky guy or what? Being around them reminds me of a wonderful little book from many years ago (which is still in print): All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. The author, Robert Fulghum, writes about simple life lessons that we do, indeed, learn at an early age but that still contain useful life management tools. Things like play nicely with others, share your toys, really look at the world around you. When I look into my grandsons’ eyes I wonder what their world will be like. I wish for them a world where joy prevails over hardship, where fun is valued as much as work. I especially hope they don’t grow up too fast, which will be tough to accomplish once they’re old enough to use a computer. (Which ought to be any day now, I suppose!)

Anyway, my point here is that all of your employees feel these same emotions about their families and lives.

We’d all like to slow down our hectic pace a bit. We’d all like more happiness in our lives. As your team’s leader, you do have the power to sprinkle some joy dust on your team.

• Send them home an hour early someday for no reason other than it’s Thursday.
• Have picnic lunches delivered and take everyone off to a park to enjoy some fine spring weather.
• Have a Bring Your Kid To Work Day this summer and don’t stress out over how much work actually happens.
• Bring your dog to the office and let him cheer everyone up.

You get the drift. Little things can have big consequences if you let them. Work hard, but play harder.

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